Harriet Beecher Stowe And Sojourner Truth example essay topic

The Negro of today is a failure, not because he meets insuperable difficulties in life, but because he is a Negro. His brain is not fitted for the higher forms of mental effort; his ideals, no matter how laboriously he is train and sheltered, remain hose of a clown. He is, in brief, a low-caste man, to the manner [sic] born, and he will remain inert and inefficient until fifty generations of him have lived in civilization. And even then, the superior white race will be fifty generations a head of him. Around the 1850's many whites perceived this statement to be true. Not only did they believe in it, but they also had science and the doctors behind the science supporting this belief (Typically white males in the profession).

African-Americans, as well as women were considered to be of lower intelligence, not able to perform in 'higher forms of mental effort' and in the case of blacks 'able to perform in a civilized manner'. These two different causes gradually found themselves merging throughout history sharing one common cause, equal rights. When many of us hear about the civil rights movement we generally tend to think of the civil rights movement of the 1960's. With many well know leaders of the time, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, M edgar Evers, many would say that the Civil Rights movement was at its' peak. With all of the things that were going on during the time, and the fact that it was televised though the eyes of millions via television.

It's No wonder The Civil rights movement of the 1960's is thought of as the peak and or beginning of the movement. One could say that the civil rights movement started in 1680's, right at the beginning of slavery. Part of the Civil Rights movement was slavery and or Anti-slavery. Before Blacks could be considered equal, they first had to be depicted as humans. This would prove to be no easy task.

Slavery roughly started around 1619, that's when the first indentured servants arrived in Jamestown, and ended totally in the US around 1865 with the emancipation proclamation. There were many heroes in the battle against slavery that were both black and white. Around the 1800's slavery was more openly being expressed as being wrong. Many blacks started to speak against their master, some rebelled, some spoke out, and a few literally went out and took action. Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth, were all leaders around the time of the 1800's fighting for the suffrage of black-Americans. Sojourner Truth especially was a strong advocate for equal rights around the 1850's, not only just for blacks, but for women as well.

Sojourner Truth is well known for her famous 'ain't I a Woman?' speech at the 1851 women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Their Sojourner Truth spoke of the injustices of our society, within which women as well as Black-Americans were at the back end. No formal record of the speech exists, but Frances Gage, an abolitionist and president of the Convention, recounted the speech. Several ministers attended the second day of the Woman's Rights Convention, and were not shy in voicing their opinion of man's superiority over women. One claimed 'superior intellect', one spoke of the 'manhood of Christ,' and still another referred to the 'sin of our first mother. ' Suddenly, Sojourner Truth rose from her seat in the corner of the church.

'For God's sake, Mrs. Gage, don't let her speak!' half a dozen women whispered loudly, fearing that their cause would be mixed up with Abolition. Sojourner walked to the podium and slowly took off her sunbonnet. Her six-foot frame towered over the audience. She began to speak in her deep, resonant voice: 'Well, children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter, I think between the Negroes of the South and the women of the North - all talking about rights - the white men will be in a fix pretty soon.

But what's all this talking about?' Sojourner pointed to one of the ministers. 'That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. And ain't I a woman?' Sojourner raised herself to her full height. 'Look at me!

Look at my arm. ' She bared her right arm and flexed her powerful muscles. 'I have plowed, I have planted and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain't I a woman?' 'I could work as much, and eat as much as man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman?

I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman?' The women in the audience began to cheer wildly. She pointed to another minister. 'He talks about this thing in the head. What's that they call it?' 'Intellect,' whispered a woman nearby.

'That's it, honey. What's intellect got to do with women's rights or black folks' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?' 'That little man in black there! He says women can't have as much rights as men. 'Cause Christ wasn't a woman. ' She stood with outstretched arms and eyes of fire.

'Where did your Christ come from?' 'Where did your Christ come from?', she thundered again. 'From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!' The entire church now roared with deafening applause. 'If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again.

And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them. ' There is debate about the accuracy of this account because Gage did not record the account until 1863, and her record differs somewhat from newspaper accounts of 1851. However it is Gage's report that endures and it is clear that, whatever the exact words, 'Ain't I a woman?' made a great impact at the convention and has become a classic expression of women's rights. When Sojourner said this speech it spoke for blacks, women and all others that were not getting their just dues. Because of this speech, she and many other blacks started to find an a lie in the women's movement.

Personally Sojourner found an a lie by way of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, an especially Harriet Beecher Stowe, a well known advocate for the women's civil rights movement. 'The object of these sketches is to awaken sympathy and feeling for the African race, as they exist among us; to show their wrongs and sorrows, under a system so necessarily cruel and unjust as to defeat and do away the good effects of all that can be attempted for them, by their best friends, under it' (Stowe). Harriet Beecher Stowe was the noted author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book that introduced the realities of slavery to the entire world. Harriet was called by Abraham Lincoln 'the little lady whose book started the civil war.

' It is believed by some that Uncle Tom's Cabin helped jump start the civil war. When Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in Cincinnati, she became acquainted with abolitionist and the runaway slaves, helping several to escape through the underground railway. It is believe during this time in Cincinnati, she came across Sojourner Truth. Many books fail to show or state when the two met but it could be assumed, because during this time they both were around Ohio. And Sojourner made many trips to and from Ohio to free slaves. But basically the exact moment when the two met is still kind of in the air.

However what is stated is the famous conversation the two had, known today as 'Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sibyl' written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. 'The Libyan Sibyl' is a writing that was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. A writing that was based off of a week long stay that Sojourner had with Mrs. Stowe and her husband. During the course of Sojourner Truth's stay she spoke to Harriet Beecher Stowe along with a few of her scholarly friends. In this writing Harriet Beecher Stowe 1. Conversation the two had (the famous ' By reading the Libyan Sibyl you could clearly see the amount of respect that Harriet Beecher Stowe had for Sojourner Truth.

'I put in this whole hymn, because Sojourner, carried away with her own feeling, sang it from beginning to end with a triumphant energy that held the whole circle around her intently listening' (Stowe). Throughout the writing Stowe speaks of Sojourner highly as if she was a student speaking of a great teacher. 2. Go into the relationship that the two shared A. How it compares to the movement at the time as a whole The relationship that Harriet and Sojourner share was slowly becoming a trend throughout America. More and more women organizations started to help the black movement, and vice versa.

They figured by joining together the numbers alone would allow them their fare share in the America Society. B. Briefly how women through out African-American played a big part in helping The truth of the matter is that white women throughout the history of African-American history have been helping slaves. Many white women knew slavery was wrong, but just like African-Americans had no say of the matter at home and in society. Many women knowing that there was nothing they could do to, helped in their on little way. Many would teach slaves how to read and write (which was illegal at the time), and some would write slaves passes to help them along there journey to a free state.

3. The pros and cons of the movement publicly stating that they were one With any and everything you have your pros and cons, and the two movements joined were no exception to this rule. Many women especially women in the south were upset that blacks were getting more benefit out of the two groups joining. Since blacks had more to fight for they in a since received more of benefit from. Many women in the women's movement got the filling that by the two groups joining it had put a hindrance on the women's movement. A. Finally, briefly speak of the problem the two groups faced when they were joined, and how it lead them to slowly drift apart.

But still let it be known that for the time they were behind each other it still go a lot more accomplished with the numbers. As time went on more and more women groups were complain of the unequal 'Land of the free and home of the brave' is one of the most popular and heart felt motto's of American History. However, this saying most people take for granted, but in reality America was not always the land of the free for many of the American Inhabitants. Normally, white women & blacks are not paired in the same category, but they both share a piece of history. With obstacles of prejudice they both had, and in some respects, still have to over come. 'All men are created equal' are they?

When our forefathers wrote the constitution what happened to this notion? In the days of the constitution, all were created equal, as long as you were a white male. Did the constructors of these revolutionary documents intend for present America to apply this praise to the entire human race? This is the most important document that our country was founded on, as the constitution is the supreme law of the land. When the Europeans came over to America they came here to escape persecution, but eventually manifested into the people they fled from.

Europeans became the founding fathers of persecution in what was to become the USA. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Beecher Stowe were two women who went about to change the unjust treatment, for not just women but for blacks as well. The relationship that Harriet Beecher Stowe and Sojourner Truth had was very uncommon at that time. Even the causes that they supported joining were very much uncommon but yet same. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Beecher Stowe set a trend in American society that is still present today. A trend that two causes could find alimentation with one another.

Many may argue as to whether or not Sojourner Truth and Harriet Beecher Stowe started the merging of the two movements but it can be assumed that the two reflected the relationship of the two parties at the time. Cited in Charles E. Siberian, Crisis in black and White (New York: Vintage, 1964), 108.